• The new division head Ben Hudson becomes the second Australian to join the Rheinmetall executive board. Credit: Rheinmetall
    The new division head Ben Hudson becomes the second Australian to join the Rheinmetall executive board. Credit: Rheinmetall
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Rheinmetall AG has decided to consolidate its Defence unit’s extensive military vehicle activities in a new division called “Vehicle Systems”. As a first step, Rheinmetall Landsysteme GmbH (RLS) and Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicles GmbH (RMMV) have been placed under joint management effective from 1 January 2016. Australian Ben Hudson (CEO) and Michael Wittlinger (CFO) will lead the new division with Hudson also been appointed to the Executive Board of Rheinmetall Defence (RD).

The resulting unit aims to be a comprehensive supplier of tracked and wheeled military vehicles and turret solutions.

Under the new structure, Rheinmetall Defence will consist of the following three divisions: Vehicle Systems, Electronic Solutions and Weapons and Ammunition. The portfolio ranges from main battle tanks and wheeled armoured vehicles to trucks, and features the 8x8 Boxer, a contender for Land 400 Phase 2 as well as products like the Lance turret and the turret structure for the UK’s new Scout reconnaissance vehicle.

RLS and RMMV will pull closer together in the new division and present a common front, while still maintaining their own corporate seats and locations. The ownership structure of RMMV, in which MAN Truck & Bus AG holds a 49% stake, remains unchanged.

According to Rheinmetall, the need for the new division is in response to “clear market trends [showing] customers today are more interested in systems than platforms” and “large, highly complex procurement programs placing ever-greater requirements on the defence sector.

Up until now, Hudson, has headed Rheinmetall’s Combat Platforms business unit and served as the CEO of RLS. He is the second Australian to be appointed to the RD Executive Board with Gordon Hargreave running the Electronic Solutions division. Prior to coming to Rheinmetall, Hudson held a variety of executive posts at General Dynamics, BAE Systems and served in the Australian Army.

Wittlinger has been with Rheinmetall since 2007, first as head of Group Controlling, then as the commercial Managing Director of RMMV.

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